Total bandh in Cooch Behar over killing of Trinamool student leader

Cooch Behar: The north Bengal district of Cooch Behar today witnessed a total bandh against the killing of Trinamool student leader Majid Ansari allegedly by another faction of Trinamool.

The bandh was not convened under any particular banner but the district Trinamool Youth wing, which is a rival to Trinamool district president and north Bengal development minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh is believed to be behind it.

Shops, markets, offices, and education institutes, etc. remained shut throughout the day today and there was hardly any vehicle out on the streets. In the second part of the day, however, a handful of government buses hit the streets.

Those supporting the bandh burned tyres on the roads to deter people from venturing out. They also took out a protest rally in Cooch Behar town demanding arrest of all those involved in the killing of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad Cooch Behar College unit convenor Majid Ansari. Slogans were shouted against minister Ghosh from the rally.

Ansari was fired at on 13 July evening when he was returning home and the next day his family lodged an FIR naming Trinamool Cooch Behar district core committee member Abdul Karim alias Munna Khan, Trinamool councillor Subhajit Kundu, and others for this. All the accused belong to the minister’s camp.

Despite the FIR, police did not arrest anyone for nearly two weeks. The scenario, however, changed as Ansari breathed his last in a nursing home in Siliguri on 25 July. This triggered a massive protest at Cooch Behar College and an agitated group laid a siege to Munna’s residence at Rail Gumty area yesterday.

The outburst made Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee direct the police to deal with the accused firmly and compelled minister Ghosh to publicly condemn Ansari’s killing. This made police wake up at last and arrested Munna late last night on charges of conspiring the killing of the student leader.

Minister Ghosh’s rival group was clarified unless the police arrest all the accused, they will only intensify their agitation.

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